Cooler prompts bomb scare

WOONSOCKET – Traffic was detoured around the junction of Pond and East School streets for nearly two hours Monday morning as the state bomb squad was called in to investigate a suspicious package left on the sidewalk.

Detective Jamie Paone, a spokeswoman for the police, said the package turned out to be nothing more than an ordinary picnic cooler. Nothing suspicious was found inside the cooler, though Paone wouldn’t elaborate on what, if anything, was.

The police responded on a call from the Woonsocket Fire Department about 7:34 a.m., Paone said. The police cleared the area about 9:15 a.m.

For most of that time, Pond Street was blocked off from Privilege to Mechanic streets.

Acting Fire Chief Tim Walsh said the episode began when someone walked into the North Main Street fire station and told firefighters on duty about the suspicious package, which had been left on the ground near Friends Foundry.

“We followed all the department policies and procedures to investigate the suspicious package, and that includes notifying the police department,” he said.